The Leaves Change
by love.conquers.all.01
Summary: James and Lily's journey into realizing that they are one another's heaven. "A drop in the ocean, a change in the weather, I was praying that you and me might end up together. It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert, but I'm holding you closer than most 'cuz you are my heaven." -Ron Pope
1. Chapter 1

Hello darlings! So here's the first chapter of what I'm hoping will be an amazing James&Lily story! Tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: Setting, characters, all that jazz... totally aren't mine! J.K. Rowling, you're awesome

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CHAPTER 1: And So the Story Begins

They absolutely loathed each other. She loathed him for being a self-centered prick, and he loathed her for not loving him like he did her. But somehow they had ended up in each others company for hours on the cold winter's night of February 17, 1975. Somehow, she ended up telling him everything, and he ended up telling her everything. And somehow, just somehow, she ended up falling head over heels for him (which he had no problem reciprocating).

But that's not where our story starts. That is -in fact- quite distant from where this story begins. Because you see, this story begins with a boy named Severus, a boy named James, a scourgify spell, and the one and only Lily.

It was a cool, spring afternoon. Another OWL was now a part of their past. Lily Evans, along with her friends, were taking a stroll outside, taking a break from the pressures of school, enjoying the fresh air that they hadn't allowed themselves for the past few weeks.

The wind -she decided- had powers. It had the power to obscure her vision with her fiery hair. It had the power to cause coolness. It had the power to create a symphony out of nature. It had a power to calm. And it had a power, that afternoon, to cause Lily's throbbing head, furrowed eyebrows, and all her worries to vanish.

She was perfectly at ease, laughing with her friends about the most insignificant of things. Her smile was large and genuine. She was so happy to feel this happy again.

But the thing about life that Lily often noticed was that it's not very fair. In the moments where happiness seems to abound, the unfoldings of anger don't stand too far behind. Because honestly, how could she not feel angry. Because you see, he was outside also. She hadn't noticed at first. She'd been so blissfully content that it hadn't registered in her head that there was a nuisance about. But he was outside along with her male, Slytherin friend, Severus. A crowd was slowly gathering around Potter and Snape. But she still had yet to notice. She was currently sitting in the warm sun with her eyes closed, in a place far from sleep but distant from consciousness also.

"Wash out your mouth! Scourgify!"Lily's eyes shot open. Her anger already boiling in her blood, she raised herself off the cool grass, her friends still oblivious, and walked briskly to where the group had gathered.

As she neared the center, she saw her friend bent on his hands and knees, a constant flow of bubbles moving from his mouth to the ground. Potter held his wand pointed at Severus, his own wand thrown off to the side. He was so helplessly being humiliated and not a single soul was doing anything to stop it. She quickly scanned the group of people. Among them were five of Lily's fellow prefects. None of them were doing anything to help Severus! They were laughing. They were LAUGHING! Except for Remus, but he may as well have been, considering all he was doing was sitting under the stupid tree reading his stupid book not doing anything to fix this stupid situation that had been caused by his stupid friends. As always, she was the one who had to put an end to this.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted, anger and desperation resounding in her voice.

Potter looked up from watching Snape and, at seeing Lily, ran his hand through his hair as always. 'Alright, Evans?' he'd said!

"Leave him alone or I swear..." she closed her eyes, as if trying to regain composure. "What has he ever done to you?"

He looked a bit surprised at her question as if he thought she were some daft child that should know this already.

"It's more the fact that he exists if you know what I mean..."

Oh, people laughed at that one.

"You think you're funny, but you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter." She spat his name. "Leave him alone."

He stared at her for a few, long seconds, searching for a loophole. He found one.

"Oh I will," he began with a smirk on his angular face, "-if you go out with me, Evans. Go on, go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

And as quickly as she possibly could, she stated, "I wouldn't go out with you if it were a choice between you and the giant squid!"

The group around the both of them which seemed to have grown larger chuckled at the turn this conversation had taken.

As Sirius continued by saying 'Bad luck, Prongs,' from the corner of her eye, Lily saw that the Impediment Jinx had mostly worn off, and Sev was now again in possession of his wand. No, don't do it, Sev...

"OY!" shouted Sirius as a flash of light shot from Severus's wand tip and hit the side of Potter's head. A large gash appeared and blood began to ooze in great amounts, but Potter chose to ignore the overly large cut and instead turned to send another hex Sev's way. In the next second, he was upside down, hanging by an invisible rope.

Potter, Black, and Pettigrew all guffawed at Potter's instant response to Sev's curse.

"Let him down!" she shouted over the crowd's laughter.

"Certainly," replied Potter without taking his eyes off Severus. He gave a light flick of his wand, and Sev fell with a loud crash, but jumped to his feet in an instant, about to aim another hex at Potter, but Sirius was quicker. He shouted 'Locomotor mortis' and Sev went rigid.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted for what she hoped was the last time.

"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," James said as he and Sirius eyed her wand wearily. She was not exactly sure when she'd decided to take it out. She was never one for violence.

"Take the curse off him, then!"

James considered her for a moment, and then, with a resigned expression on his face, he gave a quick flick of his wand and muttered the counter curse.

"There you go," said Potter sounding disappointed as Sev struggled to his feet. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus-"

"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"

And that was it. That was the beginning. And the end. The end of their friendship. And the beginning of the other their's... something. It's not sure what exactly it is yet.

"Evans! Evans!" She heard him calling after her. She was briskly walking up the hills to the Entrance Hall. Tears burned her eyes. Or was that betrayal?

She entered the Entrance Hall and quickly ran up the stairs step by step. He however took the stairs three steps at a time, and so by the second landing, he was able to grab her wrist and turn her around to face him.

Her eyes were red. Her face was blotchy. The bags under her eyes were apparent. Tears streamed down her face. Her eyes were more green than ever. She was a mess. But she was beautiful.

"What do you want?" she asked with a pained expression.

"I want to make sure you're okay..."

"Why would I be?! That was so... so... so humiliating." Her face scrunched up, a new set of tears about to start. "I have to go," she said, and she wrenched her wrist from his grasp.

"Evans!" She halted where she was on the fourth step. "I'm really sorry."

She stared at him. Her eyes bore into his. He was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. And after a long while, she finally spoke. "You should be." And with that she walked away.

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AN/ Alrighty, so let me know what you think: worth continuing? I'll put the next chapter up as soon as I've got it finished, hopefully that'll be pretty soon! And it should be. It's summer. I've got way too much time on my hands

Have a lovely day wherever you are :)


	2. Chapter 2

Why hello there :) this is chapter two! it's short, but it sets the stage for a few things in the story later on! I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Characters and setting are not mine. Love ya J.K.R.

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CHAPTER 2: Not As Planned

Summer had come and gone for Lily. But at the same time, it had dragged without Severus by her side. She'd lingered around home, gone shopping a few times, and had actually managed to get Petunia to go to the beach with her twice. She had considered and decided that this summer hadn't been the worst she'd ever had... just the lonliest. She was excited to start sixth year.

Summer hadn't come and gone for James. He found that no matter what he might've done throughout the day to forget his thoughts, they'd always return to him at night and keep him up for much too long a time. He only wished that he could come to a conclusion about his thoughts. But they were all over the place. And so he went into sixth year unsure of what he was going to do.

Of course she'd thought about this day, September first, multiple times. She'd thought about the excitement and the butterflies. She'd thought about the classes and the teachers. She'd thought about the exams and pretty much all one could think about when it came to school. But this summer, she'd thought more about something she'd shied from for the majority of her life: boys. Sure, it hadn't been in a romantic sense, but she'd been thinking about them never the less, two in particular. And she'd decided. She had decided what she would do the next time she would see either of them. Today was the day to audibly articulate those thoughts.

The Hogwarts Express gleamed as red as it had the first time she'd seen it. It was beautiful and big and somewhat scary -scary because it would be taking her to a year of unknown circumstances. But she was ready. Or so she'd thought.

With her trolley and owl safely in place at the back of the train, she walked in search of her best friend, Alice. She looked about the sea of people for Alice's distinct curly brown head but saw no one of the sort. She decided to check the train compartments. As she entered, the silence in the train in comparison to the noise level of the station gave her throbbing head a break. She opened compartment door after compartment door but still no sign of Alice. As she opened the door to the first compartment of the second cart, she found her best friend with her boyfriend, Frank, who had his arm around her shoulder in such a way that made Lily jealous. And guess, just guess who else was in the compartment. James Freakin Potter. But this was okay. She'd planned. She'd decided. She knew exactly what she was going to say to him if he talked to her. She would prefer that he never open his mouth in her presence ever again, but that didn't really seem possible, did it?

"Lily!"

"Alice!"

The shouts that followed pierced like only those of sixteen year old girls.

"Oh, I've missed you so much!"

"I know! I wish we could've spent some time together this summer! I can't wait to tell you about my trip to Paris though. It was amazing!"

"Ugh, I can't wait to hear it! I'm so jealous!"

"Haha; oh Lily, I've missed you so much!"

They hugged one another again, and at that, Frank got up to give Lily a hug and kind greeting. There was no doubt who the elephant in the room was.

James was wondering what he should do. Should he say something? And if he did, would it be witty or cocky or kind or just... normal? What to do...

James got up and gave a warm yet shy smile and said 'I think I'll go find Sirius. See you all later.' before leaving the compartment.

What was that?! He had just walked by Lily like she wasn't even there! He couldn't do that. She had planned. PLANNED for crying out loud. She couldn't let him get away like that. So, after she hastily finished the casual conversation between herself, Alice, and Frank, she excused herself from the compartment and ran after James.

"Potter!"

He stopped where he was, a few compartments ahead of Lily. He looked shocked. In fact, Lily looked sort of shocked herself. She reached him and stood a good distance away from him.

And so she began: "What the hell was that?!"

Now let me tell you, James was expecting outbursts of the sort but not so early into the sixth year that hadn't even officially begun. He looked her straight in her angry eyes and couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked when she was flustered. And so he said the only thing that came to mind.

"Huh?"

"Don't you 'huh' me! How dare you walk past me without a single word? We left things in an awkward situation the last time I saw you, and I spent a long, hard time thinking of the perfect thing to say to you when I'd see you again. And by golly, I'm going to say it!"

Merlin, she was beautiful.

"Okay."

"Okay? OKAY?!"

"Um, sorry... Please tell me what you want to say to me."

She eyed him strangely. She looked suspicious. The normal Potter would not be speaking this way to her. He would be witty and would have come up with some crazy story to explain her undying love for him, and that was why she'd spent time thinking of the perfect things to him. He had a clear shot. And all he said was to go ahead and speak? So weird.

"Fine. Let me tell you, if you think I'm ever going to forgive you for that stunt you pulled last term, you're wrong. This Lily Evans is done dealing with you and all the stuff you put me through. I want you to stay away from me. I want you to never say another word to me. You are an ego centered maniac, and I never want to spend any additional time than necessary with you. Is that clear? Get your nosy eyes and mouth and ears and nose -yes I know you smell my lovely strawberry smelling hair, but you're going to have to stop because it's creepy and annoying- out of my business. Just leave me alone. Leave me completely alone."

James stared at Lily for a few seconds, and then, to her surprise as well as his own, he said, "It'll be like I don't exist."

Lily looked startled at those words. She quickly composed herself. "Oh. Well then good." And with her nose high in the air, she walked away into Alice's compartment.

James watched her go, a new sadness overcoming him. He suddenly wanted to hurt Snape.

But he wouldn't.

Because anything that has to do with Lily would be out of sight and out of mind.

Or so he thought.

And by the way, that was so NOT the way she'd planned it. But James Potter made Lily do crazy things sometimes.

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AN: Yes, yes, the drama sort of unfolds... just partially! I'll keep writing so please keep reading! You all rock! 3 Leave comments! They can make a person's day.


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